Tickets are going fast! Get your tickets on-line today.
WMPG celebrates Bluegrass like no one else! Join The Grassholes, Tricky Britches and The Jerks of Grass for an amazing night of bluegrass! This event will be presented at One Longfellow Square, a "destination venue" in Portland for musicians and music fans.
WMPG's own Ceci Gilson will host the show, and the evening's special guests will be the Kids From 317, the group of young musicians who study music at 317 Main Street Community Music Center in Yarmouth. The "Kids" knock the socks off the Bluegrass Spectacular audience every year!
All proceeds from the Bluegrass Spectacular benefit WMPG Community Radio. For more information contact Dale Robin Goodman at 207 780-4151 or development@wmpg.org.
Tickets are $12 and availble on-line at OneLongfellowsquare.com and at the door.
Show 6:30 to 9PM
Doors 6PM
Thanks goes out to everyone who came out and supported WMPG at our annual Fashion Show Benefit which featured local fashion designers presenting their works in a fast-paced, high fashion setting with a hometown touch. It all took place at The Asylum in Portland.
Dark Follies Vaudeville kicked it off with their blend of live music, dancing, juggling, side show acts and more, bringing the art of street theater and entertainment to the stage. The runway show began at 7 with two fashion sets.
The WMPG Fashion Show features creations from local designers presented by local models. From casual to formal clothes, accessories and more all crafted by local artists. Wild and daring, or sweet and sassy, our local designer community never fails to dazzle the Fashion show audience.
All proceeds from the Fashion Show benefited WMPG Community Radio. For more information about WMPG's Fashion Show Benefit, contact Dale Robin Goodman at 207 780-4151 or development@wmpg.org or Cindy at Fashion@wmpg.org.
On April 11th and 12th the Center for Bio-ethical Reform's Genocide Awareness Project came to the Portland campus of USM. This controversal anti-abortion display features large-scale graphic photos displayed in a public setting, and compares abortion to genocide. WMPG work study students Rachel Stearns and Ross Gauvin talked to project members and to members of the USM community about the display, and filed a well-done news report. Listen here.
Every Wednesday night at 7:30pm local psychiatrist Dr. Anne Hallward conducts half hour interviews on subjects that are uncomfortable, painful or shameful to talk about. The hope is that in making difficult subjects discussable, we are all freer to express ourselves more fully.
On Wednesday, March 28th, Dr. Anne interviewed Maine's governor, Paul LePage about his childhood growing up in a home with domestic violence. In the half-hour conversation Governor LePage describes the moment when he decided he had to leave home: the moment when his father tried to pay him to lie to a doctor about the cause of his injuries. He describes living with the fear that pervaded his childhood home, and his attempts to protect his mother from his father's assaults. LePage then goes on to challenge men to speak up against domestic violence in settings with other men, and to create a culture that has no tolerance for attitudes and behaviors that belittle women. He talks about his vision for new laws in Maine that protect women from batterers and bring abusers to justice.
On Thursday March 29, on the "Hukkin' A Chainek" program, Steve Hirschon interviewed jazz legend Ben Sidran about his new book: "There Was a Fire:Jews, Music and the American Dream." Steve and Sidran spoke about the historical, spiritual and cultural aspects of music and how Jewish immigrants had an outsized impact on American popular music.
Fascinating and thought provoking! WMPG is honored to have an artist of Sidran's caliber on our air.
You can find out more about Ben Sidran at Bensidran.com
Pledges received as of March 22nd at 5pm --
$45,162 pledged from 849 people! Thanks to all of you!
If you didn't get a chance to make a plede we are still accepting donations!
You can call (207) 780-4424 or online @ wmpg.org
WMPG -- Community Radio For Southern Maine --
WMPG's Sping 2012 Begathon was sure a lot of fun and a huge "Thanks" to everyone who pledged. So far we have received 849 seperarte pledges bringing in over ¢45,000! Our goal was $42,000 so we are really excited. We are still accepting donations as we operate on a very small budget and all donations make a huge difference. You can donate on-line here or you can also stop by and visit us at 92 Bedford Street, on the Portland campus of USM or just mail a check directly to:
WMPG Begathon
96 Falmouth St.
Portland, ME 04104
WMPG depends on your generosity for our robust survival and listeners are the reason we are here.. and it's listeners who keep us going. Your favorite programs are created by talented and dedicated volunteers with well over 200 volunteers are at the broadcast helm of the WMPG ship. They make live, local radio fresh daily for you. You complete the circle of community radio when you support WMPG. Every dollar you donate is spent wisely and carefully, and is very appreciated by everyone at WMPG.
We also would like to thank the following businesses for helping out WMPG during the begathon!
We also would like to thank the following businesses for helping out WMPG during the begathon!
A huge congrats to Bayside Bowl for their first place finish in this year's Cajun Cookin' Contest. Great Lost Bear came in second place and Silly's Restaurant took third place honors.
Thanks to everyone who came to out our 17th annual Mardi Gras Party! This was the biggest crowd ever with more than 420 people voting for their favorite restaurant presentation. All the food was delicious, the decorations reminded you of New Orleans and the music great. If you missed it check out the photos here and hope we see you next year!
Thanks to everyone who came out this past Saturday to our open house to celebrate the "Power UP!". It was a great time and many old and new friends came and visited the celebration. A big thanks goes out to Local Sprouts who provided the delicious food, to all the photographers who have been sending us their work from the day and WMPG DJ Chris Darling who produced a video feature that is posted below. WCSH News also visited us and we made the evening news with a feature. We will post it when it comes available. Thanks again!
On December 19, 2011 the FCC gave us the ok to crank up our new transmitter to 100%!Click here.
WMPG Community Radio, long a familiar sound to those in and around Portland, is now broadcasting to radios all over southern and central Maine. After four years of fundraising, planning and implementation, WMPG began broadcasting a newly strengthened signal on Wednesday afternoon and is now being heard by people throughout southern and central Maine.
For the last 39 years, WMPG has been heard by listeners in the greater Portland area, but this signal upgrade brings the station's listening area to a much larger range. From the York/Kittery area up past Lewiston/Auburn and as far west as the mountains of New Hampshire, new listeners are contacting WMPG to report they are hearing WMPG for the first time.
Formerly, WMPG broadcasted at 1100 watts from a tower atop Bailey Hall in Gorham. WMPG is now broadcasting from a 500 foot tower atop Blackstrap Hill in Westbrook with full power, at 4500 watts.
With the signal increase in place, WMPG now broadcasts to all of the communities in which there is a USM campus. WMPG has a listener line in place at 207 874-3000 and invites the public to leave a message about how WMPG sounds in their location.
Call (207) 780-4424 or e-mail the stationmanager@wmpg.orgfor more information on "Power UP!"
Word has come to WMPG of the passing of one of our dedicated volunteers, Ambrose Berry, host of The Listening Post, Thursday mornings 4 to 6:30am. He had been struggling with a serious recurring illness. He died at home, surrounded by family.
Ambrose created a wide-ranging free-form show in the classic tradition of community radio. He described The Listening Post as "a different kind of radio program primarily featuring eclectic rock from the 1950's - the 00's. I'll make every effort to resist the conventional choices and try to mix and match songs and styles, trends and themes from 20th and 21st century music. My emphasis is on entertainment, information, and education."
Ambrose loved having a show on WMPG, and was in good spirits a few weeks ago when he came in with his sister Chris to make a new promo. His family has invited people wanting to honor his memory to donate to WMPG's Power Up! campaign. He was truly one of our own, and will be sorely missed.ÊWMPG offers heartfelt condolences to his family.
We couldn't have asked for a better day last Saturday as the Southern Maine Record and CD collectors converged on USM's Sullivan Gym for the 16th annual WMPG CD and Record Sale! Dealers from all over New England set up shop along with WMPG's crew as this highly anticipated event took place. A huge thanks goes out to all the WMPG Volunteers who made this event possible! For the "record" this was our largest sale to date. We brought in over $8500 in sales! Thanks espcially to everyone who donated all those CDs and records.
It is hard to believe but we are already thinking of next year's sale. If you have any old records and CDs that are taking up space? We need them. We are in need of records and CDs for next year's sale. Here is a great way to help out your friends at WMPG! - Donate your records and CDs to WMPG for the sale. If you have records, CDs or old turntables taking up space and you don't know what to do with we will take them. The sales from the event go to help WMPG obtain equipment and offset other fees.
Call (207) 780-4424 or e-mail the stationmanager@wmpg.org. Our crack team of drivers will quickly arrive at your house to clean away all those old records that are taking up space! We will then give you a receipt which can be used for a tax deduction! Thanks again for to everyone who already donated the records and CDs!
Watch Your Language! No longer just a finger-wagging warning from your mother, "Watch Your Language" is the only locally written and produced radio word game show, presented on WMPG Community Radio.
WMPG's homegrown game show, "Watch Your Language" invites you to be a part of the studio audience when we tape two live episodes on Saturday October 22 from 4 to 5:30 PM at Mayo Street Arts in Portland.
"Watch Your Language!" is a game show celebrating theÊcomplexity and beauty and downright weirdness of the English language, writtenÊand played by local wordsmiths, wits and raconteurs.
A suggested donation of $5 per person will benefit the Power Up Signal improvement campaign.
And if you would like to find out about "Watch Your Language!", call WMPG Program Director Lisa Bunker at (207) 780-4598 or e-mail her by clicking here.
WMPG was recently featured in The Bollard. It is a great piece on WMPG's upcoming power increase and the story behind it. To date we have secured a lease at a new very high tower on Blackstrap Hill and have begun ordering all the equipment. We are getting really excited and plan to "power up!" to the new power level in November. Stay tuned for more details and check out The Bollard feature here. The Bollard Feature Link.
Big Talk interviewed Dr. Selma Botman and Dr. Ali Ahmida on Thursday April 14, 2011.
Dr. Selma Botman, President of the University of Southern Maine is a renowned expert and published author on the topic of modern Egyptian history.
Dr. Ali Ahmida is chair and professor of political Science at the Uof NE. One of his areas of expertise is the historical sociology of power and anti-colonial resistance in North Africa, especially modern Libya, his home country. He is the author of many books.
Botman and Ahmida had a lively round table discussion about the current events in Egypt and Libya. Both have written and traveled extensively in the area.
Stay tuned for links to the audio. A very special thanks to all our contestants — that took guts!
We also thank our judges: Josie Huang, MBPN; Bill Nemitz, Portland Press Herald; Paul Santomenna, Strategic Narratives; Kerry Donahue, Columbia School of Journalism; and Suzi Piker, Portland Press Herald and aluma of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.
For all the hard but fun work of putting on this event, mega-thanks to: Katie Freddoso, Jessica Lockhart, Ethan Jud, Ness Smith-Savedoff, Iris SanGiovanni, Gabe Terracciano, Kevin Conelley, Bev Meir of Terrascope, Jones Franzel from PRX, Josh Gleason, Eleanor Graf, Theo Lichter, Jack Terwilliger, Jake Lichter, Jessie de Carlo, Ryan Murphy, Isaac High, Barbara VanDerburgh, Space Gallery, USM Muskie School, USM Public Affairs, Local Sprouts Cooperative, Hannaford, Shaw's, and Domino's.
Rachel Talbot Ross is the State Director of the Maine NAACP, and President of the NAACP's Portland Branch. This morning, Ms. Talbot Ross visited the WMPG studios to participate an audio project being prepared for a MLK Day radio special.
She talked with WMPG Volunteer Reporter Lorenzo Raffa about today's response from Maine Governor Paul LePage to invitations from the Maine NAACP to attend events honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. If you would like to hear their conversation, Click here to listen.
A huge thanks to the whole Bayside Bowl crew who made our first "WMPG Bowl-aganza" a raging success. On Saturday, December 4th, the recently opened Bayside Bowl hosted the "WMPG Bowl-aganza", a fund-raising tournament for our Power Up! campaign. This was a non-competitive, all-skill-levels, all-ages just for fun team tournament; Funky music to bowl by was provided by live WMPG DJ's.
There also was a silent auction in conjunction with this event. Donors of goods and services included:
Nosh Kitchen Bar
Ember Grove
Bayside Bowl
Ferdinand
Margaritas Mexican Restaurant
Nomia, a Sexuality Boutique
Soma Massage & Wellness
Skillful Vending
Steve Closuit
Moonlight Healing
G & R DiMillo's Bayside Restaurant & Sports Bar
WMPG and WMPG DJ's
Back row- Alesia Brennan, Joseph Governale, Melissa
Kennison. Front row-Andrea Lapointe, Eric Cyr, Brian Giecci, Morgan Paine,
Kaylee Leino. Not pictured Steven Lee and Laura White.
Ten USM media studies students have been taking a university class at WMPG
called Audio Production 1. The students are learning the art of radio and
have learned how to produce music and interview programs. To get their work
out into the community they created a pod cast called "Bedford Street- One
on One" that features ten daily installments of their recent public affairs
interviews.
USM's media studies 220 audio production class podcast features ten
interviews discussing topics concerning the greater Portland community. Each
show is 15 minutes and was produced by the class.
Phoenix Glass Studio
630 Forest Avenue
Portland, Maine
207.774.4154
PhoenixStudio.com
Take whatever images your mind conjures up after hearing the phrase "stained glass" and smash'em.
Walking into Phoenix Glass Studio, one proceeds with the utmost delicacy; It's easy to feel like the bull in the china shop and to be intimidated by the beautiful glass pieces that compose the studio. But surprisingly, you'll be greeted by Sammy, a bulky and excitable Labrador - A bull in a china shop! You can feel completely at home.
Phoenix glass was established in 1976, and has survived many bulls in the forms of fires and vehicles. Their beautiful art, contemporary and hardy, has survived and is as striking as ever. Once in the Old Port, Phoenix studio is now settled in on 630 Forest Avenue, a lovely little hub with a plethora of windows (some newly discovered) perfect for their eclectic display.
We are happy to report that on September 27, 2010 the University of Southern Maine's Community Radio station WMPG was awarded a $128,044 grant from the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) from their Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) account to assist WMPG's Power UP! signal upgrade project. WMPG has now raised more than $175,000 toward this $225,000 project. Fundraising will continue and the installation and operation of the new transmitter and antenna is scheduled to be complete September 2011, in advance of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) December 2011 deadline.
Click here for more information on WMPG's Power Up! campaign.
WMPG Community Radio and the St. Lawrence Arts Center presented a special series of events with Maine's own master of song and story, Gordon Bok on Sunday September 19. Talented multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and purveyor of the lore of coastal life, Bok took the stage at 7:30 PM at the St. Lawrence. Bok also presented a Guitar Workshop that same day, and an exhibit of his wood carvings grace the gallery walls at St. Lawrence Arts for the month of September.
Gordon Bok is timeless. Seafarer, songwriter extraordinaire, excellent instrumentalist, and "painter" of moods, he takes his audiences over the bay and out to sea, through a labyrinth of emotions from joy to fear, and awe at the immense wonderment of the world we live in. Free of even a hint of self-infatuation, his concerts are devoted to songs rooted in history or sparked by the imagination. For decades now, Bok has been writing and collecting songs inspired by life in Maine and the Maritime Provinces, so it wasn't surprising to hear well-crafted tales of loggers and river drives and battles between American natives and settlers.
More information at stlawrencearts.org
Gordon Bok's Wood Carvings: Unbeknownst to many fans of Gordon's music, he is also an accomplished visual artist. His work will be on exhibit at the St. Lawrence Arts Center for the month of September, beginning with the First Friday Art Walk on September 3rd.
All proceeds from this event benefited both WMPG and St. Lawrence Arts
WMPG is pleased to report that we have begun the process of web-based electronic playlisting. We're using a service called Spinitron to make our volunteer hosts' playlists available to you and your fellow listeners online, often in real time. Not all our shows are on-line yet, but more are being posted every day, and the whole schedule will be up soon. If you're interested in taking advantage of WMPG's new on-line playlists, go to Spinitron.com or click on the playlist button on our home page. Just another way we're striving to improve our service to you as Southern Maine's Community Radio station from USM.
Lars - WMPG's host of You'll Dance To Anything, Sundays 9-11pm also presents us with
Gallery Talk, a 2 minute arts module heard weekly on WMPG. He also provides it in a blog format. Gallery Talk can be heard Thursdays 7:00am, 5:00pm & 8:30pm on WMPG! Or check out the blog at gallerytalk-lars.blogspot.com
Susannah Gora is the former Associate Editor of Premiere magazine, where she covered film and the entertainment industry. She has also written about movies for publications such as Variety and Elle and has appeared as an entertainment commentator on networks such as NBC, CBS, MTV and VH1.
Ron and Susannah spoke mainly about John Hughes, the actors he worked with, the impact his popular 80s films have had before and after his death in 2009 and the great music that John introduced to so many people.
For more information about Susannah Gora and her book, go to susannahgora.com and bratpackbook.com.
For the 35-minute interview between Ron and Susannah, click here.
For one night only, the Humble Farmer came to Portland to do a benefit show for WMPG's Power Up! signal improvement project. For more than 30 years Robert Skoglund, better known as the humble Farmer, has been entertaining audiences with his trademark dry sophisticated social commentary.
WMPG is proud to air his hour-long radio show each week (Tuesdays 2 to 3pm). The humble Farmer made an evening of it at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland, Maine.
For more information, call WMPG Program Director Lisa Bunker at (207) 780-4598 or e-mail him by clicking here.
WMPG is pleased to present in collaboration with our local public media partners, Community Television Network Channel 5 Community Update. This program includes timely reports by volunteer reporters, studio interviews with local luminaries, and a weekly rundown of what's going on in Portland's non-profit sector. CTN Channel 5's Community Update airs Monday afternoons from 1 to 1:30, right after Democracy Now.
We are proud to report that WMPG's own Blunt Youth Radio program was featured on the WCSH 207 program.
The Blunt Youth Radio Project produces a weekly call-in talk show that airs Monday nights from 7:30-8:30 on WMPG, Southern Maine Community Radio. High school age youth from the Portland area, both free and incarcerated, staff the show. Blunt Members are trained in all areas of radio production: interviewing, hosting, reporting, editing, and engineering. The show has won several Gold and Silver Reel Awards from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and a number of First Place Radio News Awards from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.
Fred Greenhalgh(on left) also recently won an Ogle Award
We're happy to report that WMPG volunteer Fred Greenhalgh and his production company FinalRune was featured in the Wall Street Journal on February 25, 2010.
The article, entitled "Return With Us to the Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear - Via the Internet," heavily focused on his signature field recording style and director Fred Greenhalgh's passion for reviving audio drama in an age of the iPod.
The 13th Annual Homelessness Marathon aired on WMPG this year from the streets of Detroit. This annual live 14-hour broadcast seeks to keep the vital issue of homelessness in the public consciousness...it is not a fundraiser, but a chance for advocates for the homelessness and the homeless themselves to tell their story. It has always been a vital, compelling broadcast. for more information visit
http://www.homelessnessmarathon.org/
Your old car -- think it's not worth much? Well it may be gold to WMPG! If your car has an engine and is towable... and you have the title, call 1-888-WMPG-AUTO to see if your old wheels may be eligible for a tax deductible donation to WMPG.
You make the call... and we take care of the rest!
front row-Kelly McDevitt,Carey Corrow, Sarah Radovich, Charlene Smith.
back row: Jason Engler, Charlie Widdis, Christine Bullard, Stephanie Pennell, Jason Kenyon
Nine USM media studies students have been taking a university class at WMPG
called Audio Production 1. The students are learning the art of radio and
have learned how to produce music and interview programs. To get their work
out into the community they created a pod cast called "The Buzz" that
features nine daily installments of their recent public affairs interviews.
USM's media studies 220 audio production class podcast.
Nine interviews discussing topics concerning the greater Portland community.
Each show is 15 minutes and was produced by the class.
The "The Buzz" podcasts can be found at:
Podcast Link
On Halloween, FinalRune Productions teamed up with WMPG and members from the Mad Horse Theater Company for a live spooktravanganza. The 2-hr live radio event featured original work from writers Fred Greenhalgh, Mark LaFlamme, Kevin Anderson, and Roger Gregg.
Stories Include:
Presented was:
The Ghost Behind the Black Door by Roger Gregg
A couple from the city moves to a mansion in the countryside only to find that things are not all as they expect... a spoof on the classic horror meme.
Leaving You is Hell by Fred Greenhalgh - A dark retelling of the myth of Orpheus inspired by the classic jazz tune "St James Infirmary." A man in New Orleans is doomed to keep falling in love with the same woman and seducing her to her death.
Bone Lake by Mark LaFlamme - The ice fishing's going well on Bone Lake, until a man comes from the winter's night looking for a very strange catch.
Third Shift by Kevin Anderson - A company will sell you very efficient workers at a bargain price. Just don't send the living to check out their work.
Fred shows off his new Ogle with Master of Ceremonies, Jerry Stearns
Fred Greenhalgh, volunteer producer of the program Radio Drama Revival on WMPG, has won the Gold Ogle Award, an international audio drama award for Best Fantasy Audio Drama. He won it for "Waiting for a Window," a surreal tale of Norman, a sailor who finds himself stranded on a strange tropical island where no one ever seems to leave.
The half-hour drama was produced by Greenhalgh's Portland-based FinalRune Productions. It was recorded entirely on location in the Portland area -- at marinas, marshes, the beach, and an abandoned mill space in Biddeford. It debuted on WMPG, and features a talented local cast including Ed Patterson, Bill Dufris, and Philip Hobby.
Greenhalgh had the opportunity to personally receive the award in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the CONvergence festival.
The "Ogle" is named for Charles Ogle, who played the first Frankenstein's creation in Edison's silent 1910 film of the famous science fiction horror novel. The award celebrates the best fantasy/audio production of the year.
Greenhalgh's program can be heard each week on WMPG, Thursdsay afternoons from 1 to 1:30pm.
Suzanne Walcott with Eden Brent, Suzanne and Myron with the Legendary Bobby Rush, Suzanne (Mon ESB), Myron (Weds ESB) and Dave (Tues ESB) at the North Atlantic Blues Festival July 09
Living the Blues!
Recently, the hosts of WMPG's Evenin' Sun Blues block, which airs 5 to 7 pm Monday through Saturday, attended the North Atlantic Blues Festival. Thanks to The Blues Doctor for sharing these photos with us. Blues my foot! These folks do not look as though they have the blues!!
The USM Free Press is the University of Southern Maine's campus newspaper. They recently published a feature on WMPG. Give it a read and see what else is happening on the USM campus!
Click here to read WMPG feature,
USM President Selma Botman - Photo Courtesy of USM Free Press
On Thursday Decenber 4th, USM President Selma Botman was interviewed on WMPG's longtime public affairs program Big Talk. Selma discussed her plans for USM and how she is dealing with the current financial crisis facing it. Big Talk host and longtime USM employee Claire Holman conducted the interview.
"There are a remarkable number of photographs of the Malaga Island community. Newspapers published several dozen photos over the years sometimes in a kind of newspaper photo-spread unusual for the time period. Photos were also taken for postcards. This postcard image was titled "The Deuce of Spades." In the picture is probably Annie Parker holding Pearl Tripp. Some contend this picture was posed purposefully in an animal pen. Photo Courtesy Maine Historic Preservation."
In 1912, the state of Maine evicted about forty-five people from Malaga Island off the coast of Phippsburg. The island residents were poor, black, white, and mixed race. The eviction is typically viewed as a shameful moment in the state's history. WMPG-FM, in collaboration with the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, announces the premier of Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold, a radio and photo documentary recounting this infamous event and its impact on several generations of descendents.
Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold includes an hour-long radio program plus a gallery show featuring photographs, audio, and a panel discussion. The radio documentary aired on WMPG, February 26th. A gallery opening will took place at Salt.
"This is one of those stories where people say 'That happened in Maine?!' or 'The state did what?!' Then they say 'Tell me more,'" said Rob Rosenthal, radio producer for Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold....
Music Reviews by WMPG DJ's THE CURE 4:13 Dream Suretone/Geffen Records; 2008
By Ron Raymond
WMPG Music Director
How does a 32-year-old alt-rock/goth band get the fans
excited about a new album months in advance of the album’s release
date? Well, to prepare for the 13th album by 80s alt-rock/goth heroes
The Cure, 4:13 Dream, the 4-man band led by Robert Smith, released singles
on the 13th of each month leading up to the album’s initial release
date of September 13th. Each of these singles had non-album B-sides, which
have always been a Cure staple. However, the album got pushed back to
October 13th and was ultimately released on October 28th. After a remix
EP was released on September 13th to tide fans over, the album arrived
and is the first album since 1989’s Disintegration that, for the
most part, sounds like The Cure we used to know.
4:13 Dream opens up like several Cure albums past –
with a long track. In this case, it’s the song “Underneath
The Stars.” The song echoes back to Disintegration, by far the band’s
biggest album to date. First single “The Only One” also echoes
back of Cure days past, to songs like 1985’s “In Between Days,”
1987’s “Just Like Heaven” and 1992’s “High.”
It’s refreshing considering how awful 2004’s self-titled album
was. There was maybe one good song on the whole thing. It’s nice
to see Robert Smith and Co. going back to basics.
The album does, I feel, take a couple of missteps in
the songs “The Real Snow White” and former single “Freakshow.”
These songs sound like the more recent Cure offerings and they don’t
feel like they belong in any album. They just seem out of sorts compared
to all of the other great cuts. Other highlights on 4:13 Dream include
the sweet but short “Sirensong”; one of the singles and my
favorite song on the album, “The Perfect Boy”; the simple
but lovely “This, Here And Now, With You”; and, “Sleep
When I’m Dead,” which sounded to me at first like an older
Cure song – and now I know why. Upon further reading, “Sleep
When I’m Dead” is actually a song that was originally written
for the 1985 album The Head On The Door.
Do I think like The Cure are headed back in the right
direction? Yeah, I do. 4:13 Dream is the first studio album that reunites
original member Porl Thompson with the band since 1992’s Wish. And,
strangely enough, in Spain, where the Cure have never had much success,
the first three singles off the album have all gone to #1, with “The
Perfect Boy” reaching #2. This album makes me look forward to their
next effort, so I can applaud that one as well, because I believe the
Dream is real – that The Cure can (and will) still make some truly
good music.
WMPG has a new news training project, and as our reporter trainees finish their training they are producing feature reports on a wide variety of subjects. Each piece airs several times on our air, and is also posted on the web. To visit WMPG's general news page, click here.
On a related note, WMPG's 2008 Election Project has begun. Our volunteer reporters will bring you wide-ranging truly local coverage through election day and beyond. The reports will air as we have them in regular slots in our air schedule: 8:30am and 5pm Monday through Friday. On the days we have no fresh reports, none will air, but if you make a habit of tuning in at those times you'll hear all of our coverage. And, all the reports will be posted on line as well, along with episodes of our established public affairs shows which include election coverage.
To go to the WMPG Election Project 2008 page click here.
And if you would like to find out about becoming a citizen reporter yourself, call WMPG Program Director Dave Bunker at (207) 780-4598 or e-mail him by clicking here.
Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen playing Tamborine Man on WMPG
WMPG's Thursday morning "alt country" program the Kitchen Party had two of the originators visit us on 8/7/08! Frequent musical collaborators Chris Hillman who has played with the likes of The Byrds, Flying Burito Brothers, Manassas, Souther Hillman Furay, Desert Rose Band and Herb Pedersen who has played with David Grisman's Smokey Grass Boys, The Dilliards, Manassas, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Jackson Brown, John Denver, Desert Rose Band and more stopped by for a long interview and to play a few songs including Tamborine Man and If I could Win Your Love. They were in town promoting a show at One Longfellow Square. Everyone was thrilled to have such musical legends honor us with a visit and songs!
WMPG's Friday morning global music show, Shaken and Stirred, hosted by DJ Adira welcomed two members of Okbari to the studio on August 1. Amos Libby on the oud, and Eric LaPerna on percussion filled the station with the sounds of the Middle East. Find out more about them at www.okbari.org
Eric LaPerna
Okbari
Amos Libby and Eric LaPerna perform Armenian and Anatolian folk music, classical Middle Eastern music and traditional folk and contemporary songs from the Greek, Arabic and Balkan traditons. Okbari also presents multi-instrumental original music inspired by the musical systems of the Middle East and India. They perform on the oud, clarinet, duduk, bouzouki, doumbek, riqq, tabla, ney, mridangam, and several other instruments from around the world. Okbari was formed in 1995 and has independently released four albums: 'Among the Believers', 'By the Banks of the Red River', the self-titled 'Okbari', and, most recently, 2007's 'Armenian and Anatolian Folk Music.'
Okbari also appears as a traditional Armenian and Turkish dance quartet featuring former Bardezbanian ensemble violinist Michael Gallant and noted guitarist Michah Blue Smaldone. Okbari has a long partnership with Maine's most beloved belly dancer, Jamileh. Okbari are from Portland, Maine and has performed throughout the Northeast. To further their studies, Okbari traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, where they shared the stage with the Kemani Serkan Roma Ensemble at Ikinci Bahar in the famed Cicek Pasaji as well as with the Oudi Hasan Roumeli Kef Ensemble at Roumeli Meyhane.
Next time you bring back bottles and cans you can help support your favorite local community radio station...And you don't even have to get dirty! CLYNK, a new local redemption program, will let you turn in a bag of bottles and/or cans at any participating Hannaford and will credit it to WMPG. There are special bags, which you can pick up here at WMPG, that have a barcode. Want us to mail you a few of them - no problem! Shoot us an e-mail to WMPG Station Manager. When you fill them up and drop them off the barcode will credit your (5 and 15 cent) returns to us! It's that easy.
Participating Hannaford stores include: Biddeford, Brunswick, Buxton, Falmouth, Lakes Region (Windham), Portland (Forest Ave), Saco, Sanford, Scarborough (CLYNK's flagship location), South Portland (Mill Creek), Topsham, Westbrook, Yarmouth, and York.
A big thanks to Jan, host of Local Motives, who had some quick thinking when she learned about the program and added us in!
On Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 the USM Lab Jazz Ensemble, directed by Larry
Williams, and the USM Jazz Ensemble, led by Dr. Doug Owens, raised the roof
of the Hannaford Lecture Hall in the Abromson Community Education Center on
the USM Portland campus with a swingin' set apiece. WMPG was there,
broadcasting live. We also recorded both halves of the concert, which can
be downloaded here:
On Friday April 18th Malik Rahim and Robert King Wilkerson visited WMPG for an interview with Hashim Allah. The interview was a riviting look at the American Justice System and how a person can spend more than 30 years in jail for the possession of a $5 bag of marijuana...
In 1970 Malik Rahim was a co-founder of the Lousisiana Black Panther Party. Today Malik continues struggling for social and ecological justice in his community. One week after Katrina, Malik co-founded Common Ground Relief. Over the pst 2 1/2 years, Malik has worked endlessly to bring the story of post-Katrina New Orleans to the world.
Robert King Wilkerson is a former member of the Black Panther Party. He spent 29 years in solitary confinement in the Louisiana State Prison aka Angola Prison for a crime he was later exonerated for in 2001. He is one of the widely written about Angola 3. Since he was released King has worked to free the other two former Black Panthers who are still incarcerated.
WMPG presented a "Speak Out" on diversity - @ USM's Gerald E. Talbot Lecture Hall
The WMPG "Speak Out!"
What exactly is racism?
What exactly is discrimination? In today's multi-ethnic society, sometimes
it is hard to know how communication and actions are going to be received
and perceived.
On Sunday, December 9th, WMPG presented a live, moderated panel discussion in which people from various ethnicities and cultures talked about their experiences in the contemporary culture of the U.S. They discussed what they particularly value about their ethnicity, what they find
challenging or difficult about their ethnicity in the setting of the U.S.
today, and what words or actions they have experienced which they never want
to have repeated.
The purpose of this speakout was to foster open discussion, mutual
understanding, and respect. It will be conducted in front of a live
audience at the Gerald E. Talbot Lecture Hall on the USM Portland Campus and
was broadcast live on WMPG, as a special feature during the Mama Africa show.
The live event was free and open to the public, and the broadcast on WMPG's two frequencies, 90.9 and 104.1 FM, and on line at
www.wmpg.org. The show is posted for download
on the audio archive page at wmpg.org and available now.
USM's Convocation opens this year with a keynote speech by Roger W. Bowen,
a former university president and former general secretary of the American
Association of University Professors (AAUP). He will speak on "Academic Freedom
and Academic Democracy" on Thursday September 20. The morning of the speech
he talked with WMPG volunteer Steve Hirshon on his show Hukkin' a Chainek.
That interview can be heard here.
Download here
Steve spoke to Daily Kos blogger Bill from Portland
Steve Hirshon speaks with Daily Kos front pager Bill in Portland, Maine. Bill writes Cheers and Jeers Tuesday through Friday. Daily Kos is one of the top ten most read blogs on Earth.
For more than ten years WMPG DJ's had Phil Hersey to thank for keeping all the equipment up and running. Phil's favorite time at WMPG was either late at night repairing equipment or when a band was playing and he was the engineer. Phil was the WMPG Technical Director and engineer for our Local Motives program, the program dedicated to live local music. If you were in a local band around here for the last decade, chance are Phil made you sound good. He was an institution within the local music scene. Phil passed away in 2004 and last year WMPG DJ Lars Lindgren completed this monument to him. If you want to hear some of Phil's work just call one of our DJs and ask for some local music. We have more than 500 recordings in our library which he mastered. We miss ya Phil but are happy that your passion and love for live music has lived on here at WMPG!
Pulitzer nominated author Dave Eggers and Valentino Achak Deng, one of 17,000 Lost Boys of Sudan - speak at USM
Valentino Achak Deng
On Sunday, February 25th, 2007, author, Dave Eggers, and Valentino Achak Deng spoke to a packed house at USM's Hannaford Lecture Hall. Deng a Sudanese "lost boy" is the hero of Eggers' new book What is the What. Eggers and Deng spoke conversationally about Deng's life, mixing his first person stories with readings from What is the What. The evening concluded with questions from the audience.
"I cannot recall the last time I was this moved by a novel. What is the What is that rare book that truly deserves the overused and scarcely warranted moniker of "sprawling epic". Told with humor, humanity, and bottomless compassion for his subject, one Valentino Achak Deng, Eggers shows us the hardships, disillusions, and hopes of the long suffering people of southern Sudan. This is the story of one boy's astonishing capacity to endure atrocity after atrocity and yet refuse to abandon decency, kindness, and hope for home and acceptance. It is impossible to read this book and not be humbled, enlightened, transformed. I believe I will never forget Valentino Achak Deng."
--KHALED HOSSEINI, author of The Kite Runner
This was a fundraising event for The Telling Room, a Portland-based writing program for young people.
WMPG's Dave Wade interviewed independent journalist Dahr Jamail
On Wednesday, September 27th, WMPG's Dave Wade interviewed journalist Dahr Jamail. Jamail is one of only a few independent US journalist who has spent time in Iraq during the war. His MidEast Dispatches have become critical material for publications such as The Nation, The Sunday Herald, Islam Online and the Guardian.
Jamail is in Portland to speak at USM at the Abromson Community Education Center. Before the evening event he visited us.
Have you ever wondered what WMPG's music library looked like or perhaps the on-air studio? If yes, then here it is, we recently took out our digital camera and took a walking tour. Take a look at our 67,000 cds and 30,000 lps! Check out our new audio console compliments of the Maine Association of Broadcasters. Meet a few of the people that keep WMPG running! Thanks to Stephanie Sample for the creative editing of the video.
"Day of the Dead" was written, directed, and produced by Frederick
Greenhalgh, a USM student (now alum!) and WMPG volunteer. The radio drama,
inspired by the myth of Orpheus, tells the story of a young man from Maine
as he journeys through New Orleans in search of his missing lover. "Day of
the Dead" was recorded in both Louisiana and WMPG's studios, and features
performances by Mark Krasnoff, Charles Grant, Barry Hilton, Philip Hobby,
Casey Turner, David Howley, Kateri Valliere, Donald Murphy, Jason Elvin,
John Coons, Joshua Force, and Braden Biddings.
During the summer of 2004,the Thursday Evenin' Sun featured an imaginary roadtrip throughout the southern states with the Zipdawg at the wheel. On one such ride,July 1st, Zip picked up Barry Cowsill hitchhiking. Barry graciously chatted and played a couple songs live to earn his fare. Straddling the line between reality and fiction,this interview becomes more relevant and poignant now that Barry Cowsill has passed on at the age of 51. Listen and enjoy,sharing a few minutes with Zipdawg and Barry Cowsill (1954-2005).
Written by: John Mooney, WMPG Volunteer DJ For Tuesday's Groove Yard
Shift 6:30-8:30 am
Long ago, Kansas City, Missouri lit up the
American musical scene as never before. The city's 18th and Vine
district became second to none with its jazz influence. Jam sessions
would swing the masses into what would become the signature of Kansas
City as well as our nation.
In June, WMPG completed the installation of our new analog/digital
90.9 IBOC FM transmitter. Brian Dyer, WMPG’s long-time Chief
Engineer, began installing the equipment this past spring and we have
been tweaking the signal and making adjustments to the digital
broadcast.
For you, the listener, the transition should have been seamless as
we
continued broadcasting in analog. The new transmitter broadcasts in both
analog and digital . If you want to hear WMPG in digital you'll need to
purchase a digital radio. There are a number of models available from
Kenwood and a number of new autos that offer digital radios, too. You
may also install a digital converter. This will allow an analog radio
to receive digital signals. As for other WMPG plans related to our
digital upgrade, we are planning on purchasing a number of digital
radios and placing them around town as “listening booths”
and when they become available we'll be offering digital radios as
Begathon premiums....
On Thursday, July 21st, WMPG's Steve Hirshon interview Sean Wilsey, editor at large at MC
Sweeney's Quarterly. He talked with Steve Hirshon about his memoir "Oh,
The Glory of it All(Penguin)" on the Thursday morning drive-time show
Huckkin' A Chainek
prior to his Portland reading at Space Gallery.
Sean Wilsey's writing has appeared in The London Review of Books, The
Los Angeles Times, and McSweeney's Quarterly, where he is the editor at
large. Before going to McSweeney's he worked as an editorial assistant
at The New Yorker, a fact checker at Ladies' Home Journal, a letters
correspondent at Newsweek, and an apprentice gondolier in Venice, Italy.
He was born in San Francisco in 1970 and now lives with his wife, Daphne
Beal, and his son, Owen.
Click Here to
download interview
WMPG is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting a federally funded program that promotes the growth and development of public media in communities throughout America.
THE CURE
WMPG is funded in part by the 
Call 1-888-WMPG-AUTO to donate your car to WMPG!
We've teamed up with the friendly folks at 
A Radio & Photo Documentary
Discount Computer Sales and Road Runner Access for USM Students and Employees!
Click here for a VIDEO TOUR of WMPG
Click here for Homefront Veterans Oral History Project
WMPG is now broadcasting a digital signal. Click here to learn more.
